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Use of Hospital-Based Food Pantries Among Low-Income Urban Cancer Patients

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Abstract

To examine uptake of a novel emergency food system at five cancer clinics in New York City, hospital-based food pantries, and predictors of use, among low-income urban cancer patients. This is a nested cohort study of 351 patients who first visited the food pantries between October 3, 2011 and January 1, 2013. The main outcome was continued uptake of this food pantry intervention. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) statistical analysis was conducted to model predictors of pantry visit frequency. The median number of return visits in the 4 month period after a patient’s initial visit was 2 and the mean was 3.25 (SD 3.07). The GEE model showed that younger patients used the pantry less, immigrant patients used the pantry more (than US-born), and prostate cancer and Stage IV cancer patients used the pantry more. Future long-term larger scale studies are needed to further assess the utilization, as well as the impact of food assistance programs such as the this one, on nutritional outcomes, cancer outcomes, comorbidities, and quality of life. Cancer patients most at risk should be taken into particular consideration.

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted with funding from the New York Community Trust, the CCNY-MSKCC Partnership for Cancer Research, Training, and Community Outreach (U54CA137788), the New York State Health Foundation, and the Laurie Tisch Illumination Fund. The study was granted exempt status by MSKCC’s Institutional Review Board

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany, Trevor Lee, Julia Ramirez, Thelma McNish & Jennifer C. F. Leng

  2. Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer C. F. Leng

  3. Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, 485 Lexington Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10017, USA

    Francesca Gany & Jennifer C. F. Leng

  4. Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Francesca Gany

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Rebecca Loeb

  6. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, USA

    Alyssa Moran

  7. New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Michael Crist

Authors
  1. Francesca Gany
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  2. Trevor Lee
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  3. Rebecca Loeb
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  4. Julia Ramirez
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  6. Michael Crist
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  8. Jennifer C. F. Leng
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Correspondence to Jennifer C. F. Leng.

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Gany, F., Lee, T., Loeb, R. et al. Use of Hospital-Based Food Pantries Among Low-Income Urban Cancer Patients. J Community Health 40, 1193–1200 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0048-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0048-7

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